Stratum II. The corner of a building foundation set on bedrock (W21, W22, L18) in whose slits was terra rosa soil. A single course of the foundation had survived, most likely below the floor level, which was destroyed when the Stratum I buildings were erected. A pithos and an amphora, dating to the Hellenistic period, were found above the supposed floor level of Stratum II and below W12 of Stratum I. Their necks were damaged by the construction of the Stratum I buildings (Fig. 3). The pithos belonged to the Galilee Coarse Ware (Fig. 4:4; it could not be restored) and the amphora (Fig. 4:5), imported from the Isle of Rhodes, is dated to the second half of the second century BCE. Two bowl rims from the Hellenistic period (Fig. 4:1, 2) and fragments of cooking pot from the Roman period (Fig. 4:3) were discovered below the floor of Stratum I. Stratum II should therefore be ascribed to the Hellenistic period. It seems that the cooking pot––the only find from the Roman period––was deposited at the site after the time of Stratum II and prior to that of Stratum I.

 

Stratum I. A small room (L17; c. 3 × 3 m; Fig. 5) was located in the center of the area. The outside face of the walls was built of roughly hewn stones and the inner face was constructed from small fieldstones. Several building characteristics discernable in the southern wall (W13) seem to indicate that part of this wall remained from Stratum II. The entrance to the room, leading from a courtyard that extended across a higher bedrock terrace (L14), was in the eastern wall. A large stone, possibly a step, was placed inside the doorway. Another entryway may have existed in the western wall, but due to the bulldozer’s damage it could not be ascertained. Part of the room’s floor consisted of flat fieldstones; the top course of the underlying Strata II building protruded among them. An earthen floor was in the eastern part of the room and in its southwestern corner, a small section of a plaster floor was probably the base of some installation that did not survive. Two bowls of soft limestone were found on the floor.

The finds in the accumulations of Stratum I included fragments of glass vessels, pottery vessels and a coin from the years 355–361 CE (L17; IAA No. 107713). Among the metal objects was a nail recovered from the doorway between L14 and L17 (Fig. 6:1), a large iron needle found on the floor of L15 (Fig. 6:2) and a small bronze plate, possibly a balance pan, radially incised in its center, with four perforations along its circumference (Fig. 6:3).

 

One hundred twenty three rims of pottery vessels were counted: four dated to the Late Roman period and the rest were from the Byzantine period. The Byzantine-period pottery vessels included locally produced and imported vessels. The domestic vessels (83%) consisted of fry pans and their lids (7%; Fig. 7:6, 7), cooking pots with upright necks (15%; Fig. 7:8), cooking pots with carinated necks (20%; Fig. 7:9), barrel-shaped jars with ribbed bodies, made of gray and light red clays and adorned with white painted decorations (21%; Fig. 7:10–14), pithoi of black clay (1%; Fig. 7:15) and jugs (5%; Fig. 7:17). The imported vessels included red-slipped bowls from Phocaea in Anatolia (17%; Fig. 7:1, 2), Africa (Fig. 7:3, 4) and Cyprus (Fig. 7:5), as well as a basin with a trapezoid rim (1%) and amphorae (3%; 7:16).

 

Additional segments of walls that were part of the dense building complex, to which the excavated room belonged, were found. However, due to the limited excavation area and the bulldozer’s damage it was impossible to discern its layout. Near the excavation area, where no damage was caused, the tops of walls could be observed, attesting to buildings that were preserved almost in their entirety. A walk around the ruins revealed that such fine preservation occurred only in this area and most of the site was cleared, leaving no higher remains above surface.